Twiggy Halloween Pumpkin

By Caitlin Murray Giles

Contributor

You can carve them. You can paint them. You could always stencil them. But why not try something new with your pumpkins this year? Use your creativity and ingenuity to make pumpkin people or pumpkin critters for your Halloween decorations.

Materials

A twig pumpkin frame or a plastic pumpkin (be sure that you are
able to puncture the plastic without too much effort in order to
attach decorations)

A selection of the following: plastic gourds, pumpkins and
artificial leaves in various shapes and sizes

Tools: paddle wire or twine, hole punch, scissors, knife

Directions

Start with a twig pumpkin frame or a plastic pumpkin. A twig
pumpkin frame is easy for kids to work with because you can simply
wrap the nearly invisible wire around the branches.

Use large gourds for the ears and smaller gourds to create
eyebrows and a nose. Smaller pumpkins make nice eyes or
mouths. Carrots make ideal noses. Use twigs to fashion limbs
for your pumpkins. Leaves can be used as hair or bow ties. Whole
peanut or walnut shells make good eyes or shirt buttons. Dried corn
husks can be made into hair or clothing. An adult can cut materials
into specific shapes if needed (pumpkin triangles for cat ears, for
example).

To make a tuft of hair, layer craft leaves or artificial corn
husks together, punch a hole through them and attach them to the
stem. Don't limit yourself to the seasonal aisle, browse the art
supplies section.

Once you have selected your embellishments, the next step is to
actually attach them. Tooth picks or wooden skewers work well for
larger items such as gourds or mini-pumpkins. Paddle wire or twine
work better for more fragile or awkwardly shaped items.

Caitlin Murray Giles is a full-time mother of three and part-time freelance writer living in Wicker Park.